1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of catering apparatuses, and in particular to an improved chafing dish handle or holder for a chafing dish or food pan to assist in the exchange of hot chafing dishes and in the storage of chafing dishes when not in use.
2. Background Information
Chafing dishes, which are also referred to as food pans, steam tables, chafing pans, and buffet pans (collectively referred to herein as chafing dishes), are widely used for buffet-type food service, serving various kinds of hot and cold foods. Such chafing dishes, when serving hot foods, typically include a supporting water pan supported by an open frame bracing structure. One or more heat sources, such as steno burners, are placed below the water pan to heat the water in the pan. A chafing dish is supported by the water pan, typically above the level of the water. A lid is often provided to cover the chafing dish. Typically, both the water pan and the chafing dish will include an outwardly extending peripheral rim at an upper portion thereof. The peripheral rim of the water pan engages the open frame bracing structure to support the water pan. In a similar fashion, the peripheral rim of the chafing dish engages the peripheral rim of the water pan to support the chafing dish.
Representative examples of this construction are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,045,672, 5,347,979 and 5,517,903 and 5,676,276. It is also possible with certain chafing dishes to utilize the chafing dishes and the open frame bracing structure without the intervening water pan, such as for food dishes served and maintained at room temperature. In this configuration, the chafing dish may be supported directly of the open frame bracing structure. For cold or chilled dishes the water pan can be used to support ice to cool the chafing dish without contacting the food
The chafing dishes must be removed from the assembly periodically for various reasons. For instance, chafing dishes must be removed and replaced to replenish the food in the chafing dish assembly, and must be removed to clean the chafing dishes. Chafing dishes are sometimes described as being designed or configured to provide a close or tight seal between the chafing dish and the water pan so that the steam or cold air below the chafing dish will not escape around the edges of the chafing dish, however in practice no such seal is provided in most applications as ordinary wear and tear will provide variations in a surface such that no tight metal to metal seal is practical. Even without a tight “seal” per se in practice it is advantageous that the chafing dishes sit or seat evenly within the supporting structure and this engagement can be referenced as a seal within the meaning of this application.
The conventional prior art chafing dishes are typically constructed with a peripheral rim being either a planar flange having a down-turned outer edge or a planar ledge having an outwardly extending portion which rests on and provides an engagement surface for the water pan in which the chafing dish is placed. It is often difficult to remove such chafing dishes from the assembly.
In order to remove the chafing dishes, the edge of the chafing dish, which provides the engagement or seal with the water pan, must somehow be lifted from the water pan, by wedging a finger, utensil or other tool under the sealing rim. Such a procedure is difficult and can be dangerous since the chafing dish assembly may have a hot upper surface and/or hot escaping steam can burn the hand or finger of the person removing the chafing dish.
Commonly, persons removing the chafing dish may unwisely use something else, other than a pot holder, such as an apron that he or she is wearing to remove the chafing dish. This could result in the uneven handling of the chafing dish causing spills and/or burns to the food handler and/or patrons standing nearby while the transfer of hot food is taking place. Furthermore, aprons mistakenly being caught underneath of the chafing dish could quite possibly cause the whole chafing dish assembly to be pulled over as the worker leaves the area.
Attempts have been made to address this problem in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,276 discloses a chafing dish with a notch in the sealing flange to provide a space between the chafing dish and the water pan into which serving utensils can be inserted to lift the chafing dish for easy grasping of the edge of the chafing dish. This solution still requires and encourages the inappropriate use of serving utensils and the like to pry the chafing dish upwards and unevenly handle the chafing dish.
Permanently attached handles have been used in other nested cookware such as draining baskets or strainers as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,588,614 and 4,106,486. U.S. Pat. No. 925,781 discloses a steamer arrangement with integral handles to facilitate handling. U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,210 provides a very effective attached handle solution as described in greater detail below, and this design, in practice, may represent a preferable solution for roll top chafing dishes as they are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 7,611,178 provides a more complex pan lifting implement. U.S. Pat. No. 6,721,996 provides another chafing dish handle solution.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,112,948 and 3,179,287 disclose special attachable chafing dish handles. The attachment of the handles to the chafing dishes in these designs encounter the same problems associated with moving the chafing dishes without the handles. These handles would also interfere with the sealing of the chafing dish and the water pan and the placement of the lid if the handles were left attached to the chafing dish. Finally, these handles represent another tool which the operator must store separately while the chafing dish assembly is being used, washed or stored. U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,670 discloses separable handles for manipulating a steam pan.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,467 discloses a chafing dish handling frame formed from cylindrical steel of a shape and size for surrounding a chafing dish under its lateral flange. The frame includes two handles positioned so as not to interfere with proper seating of the pan in the receptacle hole in the steam table. One embodiment of the pan handling device includes lid/pan clamps for securing the pan handling device to a steam table pan as well as for securing a pan lid to a pan such as when food is to be stored in a pan. This solution does not adequately address pan storage or frame attachment.
The strainers have been designed with a peripheral supporting ledge for supporting the strainer within another cooking vessel, typically containing water or oil. Due to the perforated nature of a strainer, the ledge does not form a seal with the underlying cookware. Consequently, removing a strainer from the cookware does not result in a sudden escape of steam as in chafing dish removal. Furthermore, such strainers are not commonly used for food presentation and service.
The conventional prior art chafing dishes are typically stored nested one inside of the other. Space considerations in restaurant environments can often be quite critical such that the compact storage of chafing dishes through nesting is deemed essential in certain environments, even if such nesting can make the dishes difficult to remove. Consequently any chafing dish handling development that significantly alters the nesting storage arrangement will severely limit their commercial applicability. The applicant's prior chafing dish handling solution is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,210 (the '210 patent) and this solution addresses much of the prior art problems and it further avoids the problem of inseparable nesting chafing dishes by creating what is called a “fanned” nested arrangement of pans. However, this solution, which admittedly does require greater height in pan storage, has been less widely implemented in environments where storage space is deemed the most critical. A safety device such as in the '210 patent, is of little practical use if it is not actually implemented in practice. The disclosure of the '210 patent is incorporated herein by reference.
All of the above identified patents are incorporated herein by reference as they clearly supply information regarding the conventional construction of chafing dish stands and pans and the like as well as identifying the shortcomings of the state of the art. As evidenced in this prior art there is a need for additional chafing pan handle solutions which provide, for example, most of the advantages of the '210 patent while still allowing for nesting of the chafing pans. Thus there is a need for a chafing dish which can easily be removed from a water pan or open frame bracing structure which provides a seal between the chafing dish and the water pan and allows a lid to be placed on top.